Decanterberry Tales - A Willamette Valley Wine Blog - tuscany tag

Avignonesi, Rosso, 2005

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 01:32:47 GMT

Our son (who's four) loves Sal's restaurant. His favorite dish there -- strangely for such a young one -- is their butternut squash raviolis. And if that isn't enough, it's done in a drawn-butter sauce with crumbled gorgonzola and toasted sage. He turns down pizza for this. Seriously.

Anyway, we go there every so often and they have this Montepulciano there that I really like -- the Avignonesi, "Vino Nobile di" (2005). So here I am at Zupan's and here's this wine in their news letter. Same vintner, but half the cost. I have to to try ...

The nose is bark, red cherry, pepper, artichoke, squash, and dusty. At first the taste is pomegranet. It's very light; lighter than expected. Light red cherry flabors, and some -- seriously -- watermelon. However, it's totally dry (not sweet at all). The finish remains dry, along with pepper, subtle anise, something earthy and cola. Definitely cola!

This is not a bad wine; but then, it's not great. It has some of the earthy characteristics of it's big brother. Yet it's a little too thin. It's probably a good wine to chill slightly and serve on a hot day.

Cost:

Rating: 6.0

(40% Prugnolo Gentile, 30% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon)

Avignonesi, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, 2005

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:51:13 GMT

I really want to like Italian wines. The history. The diversity. All those names to learn -- is that a village or is that a grape (maybe both). But it's rare for me to find a Chianti that I really like. This, however, isn't a Chianti exactly. This wine is from the DOCG region located in Tuscany, just south of Chianti, and is composed mostly of Sangiovese (like a Chianti). But this was different.

The nose was chemical at first, and then vanilla/wood, vegetable (maybe artichoke, maybe brussel sprout). The vanilla is both subtle and prominent. It's intertwined in the other aromas. There was a hint of violet in there too. Very nice nose.

The taste was smooth. Earthy. And a bit musty -- not exactly dirt, not peat, not barnyard ... more veggie I suppose. But then, this is Sangiovese, and the finish was light to medium -- lighter than the smell might lead one to believe. Cherry. Wood. And red leaf lettuce (seriously).

Overall, I really liked this wine. However, this is not your garden-variety cheap Chianti (it's not really a Chianti of course), so you have to pay for that goodness.

Cost:

Rating: 8.0

Banfi, Centine, 2006

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 05:18:24 GMT

We've had this before -- I think it was the 2002 the first time. This is not a bad table wine. The varietal mix is not traditional Italian -- sort of a mix of new (Cab and Merlot) and old (Sangiovese) world.

The nose was plum, stems, nutmeg, cedar, vegetable, celery, and brussel sprout. Yeah, pretty interesting for such a cheap wine. The taste was less interesting -- basically just plum along with some grit in the mouthfeel. The finish, again, was plum and a bit of that cedar. This wine was not as dry as as all the Rhones we've had recently. The fruit (plum) remains in the finish -- unlike the typical Rhone. The body was medium.

This wine was alright -- not great -- sort of blasé. Certainly good enough for everyday wine drinking. The nose was definitely the most interesting, yet the taste and finish were pretty one dimensional.

Cost:

Rating: 5.5

(Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot)

Perazzeta 'Rita' Montecucco, Sangiovese, 2004

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 03:30:00 GMT

Smell: Sharp alcohol smell. Underneath there's hay, dirt, ferns and mushroom. Vegetable (artichoke), pepper and a hint of cherry.

Taste: Plum, pepper, marionberry and artichoke.

Finish: Pepper and marionberry. The pepper really lingers--spicy! Tannins in the texture.

Cost:

Rating: 7.0